


Christina: Indiscretions at the Carnival

by slaysvamps



Series: Christina Strong Chronicles [19]
Category: World of Darkness (Games)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Vampire: The Masquerade - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 00:50:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20380951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slaysvamps/pseuds/slaysvamps
Summary: Christina tries to help Brenda see the truth about Rafe's new attitude.





	Christina: Indiscretions at the Carnival

**Author's Note:**

> While we have used the names of some celebrities and their likenesses this is not an RPF.

_So, tell me what it is_  
That keeps us from each other now  
Backstreet Boys - Climbing the Walls

Michael Moorecock flew into town in late March for the Carnival opening. His childe Meg Carmichael came too, a calm cool presence at his side. They seemed close, and if I didn’t know that he was still very much in love with Brenda Thompson-Brown I might have assumed that they were lovers.

The opening was just as fantastic as Michael had promised it would be. All the Kindred in the city attended, and most of their ghouls including Nick Kennedy who, as it turned out, was Michael’s ghoul. I knew Brenda didn’t like him, but he seemed pleasant enough, though from the way Rafe stared at him all night I wasn’t the only one who thought that way.

Brenda stuck close to me for most of the evening. I only had a few nights left in the city and she seemed determined to spend most of them with me. It was nice to spend time with her again, to play the part of carefree sisters while we explored the Carnival. Rafe didn’t like the fact that his wife stuck close to me, of course, but he didn’t say anything about it, at least not where Brenda could hear him.

At one point I had paused to watch the completion of a game while Brenda had moved on. I could almost feel the animosity looming closer even before I heard her husband Rafe Brown’s voice behind me.

“All packed up and ready to go?”

“Mostly, yes,” I said coolly without bothering to turn around. “Don’t tell me you’re sorry to see me go.”

He gave a short laugh. “On the contrary, I can’t wait.”

“I bet.” I turned to look at him, my eyes cold. “It’ll be a bit easier, won’t it, without me keeping an eye on you?”

“Keeping an eye on me?” he scoffed. “Please.”

“Right,” I growled contemptuously. “You’re the ‘good’ boy, aren’t you?”

He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. “Of course, I am. Model Tremere, unlike you.”

“Maybe,” I allowed slowly, “but you’re like me in other ways, aren’t you? Such a model spouse.”

His eyes went hard, and he took a threatening step toward me. “Don’t even begin to think you know what’s going on between Brenda and me, you crazy bitch.”

This time I held my ground. His intimidation tactics were more amusing than frightening, now that my mind was back together again. “I think you’ve been reading last month’s news, son. I haven’t been crazy in, oh, at least a couple of weeks.”

At that moment Brenda joined us, putting her hand on Rafe’s arm as if to restrain him. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, honey,” he told her, still glaring down at me. “Just checking on your sister.”

“So conscientious,” I purred, still more amused than frightened. “It’s so nice that you’re looking out for me, Rafael. I feel so... safe.”

Brenda scowled. “Sure, I’m totally believing that,” she told us, putting her hand through her husband’s arm. “Rafe, why don’t we go check out the private booths?”

He finally tore his gaze from me to smile down at her in agreement.

“Are you okay?” she asked me.

“I’m fine, Brenda,” I told her, still watching her husband. “Go and have fun.”

His smile was more natural now that he held most of his wife’s attention. She smiled back at him and led him away through the crowd of people. I watched them go, hoping he’d get his crap together before he broke my sister’s heart.

It wasn’t half an hour later when I saw Rafe come out of a door marked ‘Employees Only.’ I wouldn’t have cared what he chose to do if it wasn’t for the fact that he had a just-laid look I’d seen him wear after spending time alone with his wife.

A glance across the room told me that Brenda was still standing near the Bridal Path, watching the games. Angrily I headed toward Rafe, anxious to get him out of the room before Brenda saw what he looked like.

Frasier O'Connell must have seen what I saw, and he reached Rafe first, clasping him on the shoulder and saying something I wasn’t quite close enough to hear.

“I- I gotta get outta here,” I heard Rafe choke out as I reached them. “Will you tell Bren I had to go home? Can you get her back there for me?”

“Frasier, take him home,” I told my ghoul. “I’ll make sure Brenda gets home okay.”

With a nod, Frasier grabbed Rafe’s arm and led him toward the exit. I stood looking at the door he’d come out of, debating on whether I wanted to find out who Rafe had cheated on my sister with. Before I could decide whether to go through the door, Michael came up beside me.

“What’s going on?” he asked, frowning.

“Not really sure,” I said slowly. “I think Rafe came out of that door, he looked pretty ruffled. Maybe your boy had something to do with it.”

Michael eyed the door, looking grim. “I’ll be sure to find out.”

He’d barely taken a step toward the door when Brenda joined us, looking worried.

“What’s wrong with Rafe?” she demanded.

I glanced at Michael, hoping he’d take my lead. “I think maybe being around all these mortals is getting to him a little. He said he had to leave, I had Frasier take him home.”

If anything, that made her more worried. “Oh, no. I should go try to catch them before they leave.”

I caught her arm before she could follow them from the room. “No, give him a chance to calm down,” I told her. “He’ll be all right.”

“But Frasier might not be able to control him.”

“He’ll be all right,” I said as calmly as I could, “as soon as he’s out of this crush he’ll feel better. If not, there’s blood at the house, right?”

“Yes, of course there is.” She stared at the exit Frasier had led Rafe through as if she still thought of going after them.

“Brenda,” Michael pointed out, “Frasier has some experience dealing with... anxious Kindred. They’ll be fine.”

She nodded and looked away from the exit to cast her glance about the room. Off to our right I saw her ghoul Howie Dorough headed toward us.

“Look, why don’t we have a look at the lingerie booth,” I suggested, trying to distract her.

She ignored me to meet Howie halfway as he approached. When Michael slipped through the ‘Employees Only’ door, I trailed after Brenda in time to hear her ask him to go back to the mansion and check on Rafe.

“Yeah, I’ll go right now,” Howie agreed. “He didn’t... do anything, did he?”

“I’m not sure,” she said hesitantly, looking at me, then at the door Michael had disappeared through. “He came from back there, right?”

“Yes,” I told her, keeping my voice low and soothing. “Michael is checking on it, he’ll let us know if there’s a problem.”

“No, Howie, please go to Rafe. He might need you.”

Without waiting for a response, she once more headed for the door Rafe had come from and once again I grabbed her arm.

“We’re not supposed to be back there,” I reminded her. “Michael will let us know if there’s a problem. He would have been out here by now if there had been.”

Thankfully she listened to me, but still insisted on returning to the vicinity of the door to be on hand the moment Michael returned. I’m not sure what I’d have done if Michael hadn’t come out just a few minutes later.

He saw us standing there and smiled reassuringly. “Everything’s all right my dear. No harm, no foul.”

“What happened, Michael?” she demanded, moving closer to him. “Did he hurt anyone?”

“Calm down,” he said, turning on his most charming smile. “He did bite one of my people, but it was purely consensual, and no one was hurt. Just a bit of hunting, Brenda, nothing to be concerned about.”

“He bit someone?” she asked, shocked. Brenda rarely fed directly from anyone as she preferred to drink her blood from a glass. For some reason she thought everyone should feel the way she did about feeding.

“It’s perfectly natural,” he assured her. “My employee was not harmed in any way. Rafe did well, you should be proud of his first solo hunt.”

“Really?” she demanded anxiously. “Your employee wasn’t hurt?”

“No, he wasn’t hurt,” he said again.

“He?” I repeated in a low voice. “It was your boy, wasn’t it?”

Brenda’s gaze flew between us. “Your boy? Nick?”

Michael looked uncomfortable, but to his credit he did meet her eye. “Yes, Nick.”

I couldn’t help the disgusted noise that came from my throat.

“Rafe bit Nick?” she asked, obviously shocked. She reached out a hand to each of us as if she needed our support to stand. “H-he fed from him?”

“It’s all right, Brenda,” Michael said soothingly. “No one was hurt. Nick is simply composing himself. He’ll be out in a minute.”

“Maybe I should take you home,” I suggested softly, seeing just how shaken she was.

“Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” she agreed. To Michael, she said, “I’m sorry, Michael. I hope you’re not angry about this. Nick is your ghoul.”

“He was not harmed, my dear,” he told her, “and I well remember the hungers of my first nights in this existence.”

“Okay,” she said, sounding more than distracted. “I’m sorry to leave. Enjoy all your success here, Michael. Well done.”

As she leaned over to give him a brief hug, Michael and I exchanged a look. His face told me that I’d been right about what Rafe had been up to, and that we would talk about it later, when Brenda wasn’t around.

I got Brenda out to my car, but she was visibly shaken. She didn’t much like it when I tried to tell her that I thought Rafe’s feelings for her had changed since his embrace, but I had to try. The only thing Brenda wanted to do was see her husband, and she didn’t like it when I pulled into the parking lot of a gas station and parked.

“Bren, I hope I’m not overstepping my boundaries,” I said gently, “but I think we need to talk about something.”

“Chris, can this wait until later?” she asked anxiously. “I’m really just kind of freaked out right now and I just want to see Rafe.”

“No, I don’t think it can,” I said more firmly. “Look, Brenda, I know that you know intellectually about blood bonds, but I don’t think you really get what they are, or maybe you don’t remember, but we need to talk about them now, before you talk to Rafe.”

“Really, of course I know what a Blood Bond is like,” she scoffed. “I was Michael’s ghoul remember? I was bound to him.”

“Maybe you were, or maybe it just affected you differently, but Brenda, what I felt for Luke a couple of years ago was overwhelming and that wasn’t even a full bond,” I told her. “I can see in Frasier’s eyes that he feels that way for me, that he’d do anything I asked of him, that he’d never leave me. I saw it in Petor’s face, Brenda, and even when I had my teeth in his throat draining him d-dry he never fought me, never tried to tell me no.” I forced myself to keep talking rather than get lost in that particular memory. “I can see that devotion in Howie’s eyes when he looks at you, and I used to see it in Rafe’s too, but you know that the embrace breaks Blood Bonds, Brenda.”

“Chris, I’m not sure why you’re saying this,” she said in a small hurt voice. “Rafe loves me,” she insisted. “I know we’ve had some rough moments but that doesn’t mean we feel any different about each other.”

I could have just agreed with her and let the subject drop, but there were a few things she needed to hear. “I’m not saying he doesn’t love you,” I said softly. “And I’m not trying to hurt you by telling you this. I’m just saying that he’s not fully Bound to you anymore, that the desperate need he used to feel for you is gone. It is impossible for him to feel the same as he felt before his embrace unless you Blood Bond him again.”

She refused to accept what I was saying and insisted that I take her home. Since I’d done all I could, I did as she asked, following her into the house only long enough to find Frasier and get both of us out of there. Brenda didn’t need us to witness her marriage imploding, even if she seemed determined to deny that it was to the very end.

As I spent time with Brenda over the next few nights, she continued to pretend that everything was fine between her and Rafe. I let her do it, not wanting to taint our remaining time together with an argument I couldn’t win.

When Michael visited me the night before I was to leave Salem, he was a lot more realistic about the situation. It was the first time we’d had a chance to speak alone since the Carnival opening.

“I’ve told Nick to stay away from Rafe,” he said to me. “Unfortunately, I have no say over what Rafe does. I hope Brenda understands that.”

“Brenda’s not seeing the situation for what it is,” I replied sadly. “She thinks Rafe still loves her like he did before. Michael, did they have sex?”

“No, not… well, not intercourse, or anything close,” he told me. “Nothing more than a hand job and a bit of blood.”

“That’s bad enough,” I murmured. “He’s going to break her heart and she won’t hear anything about it.”

“Just be there for her,” Michael replied softly. “She’s really going to need you when this falls apart.”

“Yeah, and I’ll be in Vegas,” I reminded him. “Maybe I should stick around.”

“Chris, I know you care about Brenda, but you need to do what’s best for you. Living in Salem isn’t doing you any good, we both know that.”

I sighed, but I knew he was right. Before I could answer, Frasier knocked on the door.

“Brenda’s here,” he warned us. “She’ll be down in just a minute.”

“Please don’t say anything about what happened between Rafe and Nick,” I begged Michael quickly. “She won’t hear anything negative, and it will only start a fight.”

He nodded, and by the time Brenda joined us we had turned the conversation to less sensitive topics. She kissed Michael’s cheek in greeting but brushed aside his apologies for the incident at the Carnival.

“I hope everything is alright,” he said seriously. “I would hate there to be repercussions after what happened at the Carnival.”

“I’m okay,” she assured him, though I could tell she was uncomfortable. “I’m sure that Nick is okay?”

“Nick is fine, and you can be well assured that he will be better behaved from now on,” Michael told her.

She nodded. “Thank you. Rafe has promised to steer clear of him so there will be no further temptation.”

“No harm done, then,” he said with his charming smile.

Somehow, I knew this wouldn’t be the end of it.

**Author's Note:**

> My gaming group has always played fast and loose with the White Wolf rules, including lots of things we see in various TV shows, movies and books. We were playing mostly in the late 1990s and early 2000s so we use/used the editions available at that time. 
> 
> We also threw all the 'By Night' rules out of the window and created our own rulers in our cities. Some of the cannon White Wolf characters may show up from time to time, but don't expect them to be like the books. 
> 
> I'll be separating these stories both by character and by city, so some stories may be listed under multiple Series under my profile here on AO3. 
> 
> If you're interested in learning more about our world 'After Dark' please visit my website at www.whendarknessfalls.net.


End file.
